Length and configuration of gear lines?

[GregSaiz]

When diving off a Zodiac, we throw out gear lines for securing our rigs after surfacing. Our gear lines are about 15' long but I'm thinking in this case, shorter is better. The longer line just seems to be begging to entangle and with surface wind or current, our gear and lines will sometimes get under the boat. What length are your gear lines and how are they configured?

 

[Peter_C]

I make my own, and they are between 6-8 feet, although I have a smaller boat. I start with tubular nylon webbing which I get from REI. Then I go pay $$ to West Expensive Marine for 1/2" bungee cord. I buy stainless bolt snaps from Nix Dog Collars. The bungee gets feed thru the hollow tubing and tied into it with an overhand knot, leaving about 8" or so of the webbing free. I only put a little bit of tension on it, so the webbing just shrinks a little over the bungee. This is to give the webbing a little spring action, so it doesn't yank the dive gear on rougher days. Then I sew the bolt snaps onto the ends by folding the webbing over and running it thru my sewing machine with strong nylon thread...a lot!

They clip into a stainless loop inside my boat, and I have four of them. Works great for me, and they happen to work well for kayaks and even attaching two kayaks together. Using [oly always scared me as it can come unclipped. Since sometimes it is easier to deflate a kit before taking it off I need to trust my tag line. Plus I set my partners weight belt up with a d-ring so she can clip the belt off and drop it before doffing her kit. She struggles to throw her heavy weight belt into the boat.

I do believe Chuck T. uses 15' bungee cords to attach their fancy camera outfits far under the boat. I am sure they have a system down pat.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Yes, cameras are hung from 15'ish bungees that are about 2/3 of the way from bow to stern. That seems to minimize the bouncing. There are
two SS bolt snaps on the end with swivels. They get clipped into the wrist lanyard on the camera from opposite sides -- I've had the wrist lanyard snag
the bolt snap and open it. Usually I hang my camera and hand Linda's to her and she hands it back. The timing is right for that.

Dive gear gets clipped to a 10' (me) and 15' nylon line (Adm. Linda) on the port side about half way between bow and stern. There's also a 15'
nylon line on the starboard side and the 10' can easily be moved from port to starboard. These lines have "suicide clips". You learn which side
to clip off on based on current relative to the the way the boat is pointing.

Chuck

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

One more thing: The nylon lines should be 1/4" to 3/8" three-strand, and spliced, not knotted.

Chuck

 

[GregSaiz]

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like it isn't urgent to trim the lines shorter than 15' but I'll do so anyway. Chuck, are you suggesting to avoid knots because they are more likely to cause a tangle or because a spice is stronger?

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like it isn't urgent to trim the lines shorter than 15' but I'll do so anyway. Chuck, are you suggesting to avoid knots because they are more likely to cause a tangle or because a spice is stronger?

Because a splice in three-strand nylon will NOT come undone. I hadn't thought about tangle, but that's probably not an issue with the proper knot -- bungy cord camera taglines are knoted, with the loose end tiewrapped down.

Chuck

 

[kwinter]

Most of the ones I see around here (including mine) are 15-20 feet long, with large rings tied in butterflies every few feet. Serious deco time accrues at 20 feet, so it's nice to start clipping off scooters, bailouts, etc. If shallow conditions are rough, all remaining deco is done at 20 instead of 10 feet. So a line that's up at 15 isn't as useful.

With enough weight clipped onto the bottom, it would take some ripping currents to move the line under the boat.


Please pardon any typos. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rjack321]

Mine are made from 1/4" paracord and only about 6-8ft long mostly with 2 boltsnaps on them. Any longer and the gear just gets tangled in the current or pushed back into the engine (16ft RIB).
One snap at the bottom end, another about a foot up. The boat end is girth hitched to a grab line Dring. I have about 6 of them around the gunnels.

We don't deco directly underneath the zodiac, we stay under the SMB or the shot line and the boat hovers nearby.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

We use 3-4 feet lines with bolt snaps attached.

 

[MaxBottomtime]